The Effects of Font Type on Reading Accuracy and Fluency in Japanese Children with Developmental Dyslexia

Takashi Gotoh,Naoki Tani,Toshiaki Uchiyama,Akira Uno,Toshimasa Yamanaka

doi:10.22158/jar.v3n3p221

Takashi Gotoh, Naoki Tani + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.22158/jar.v3n3p221

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Abstract

We administered rapid reading tasks in Japanese children (32 with typical development and 24 with developmental dyslexia), and investigated the effects of two different font types: Rounded-Gothic and Mincho style font. In the experiment, we used four kinds of stimuli: two scripts (paragraphs and random kana character non-words) in two font types (Rounded-Gothic and Mincho style font). In this experiment, the duration time, the number of errors and the number of self-corrections were measured during reading. Participants were asked which font type was easier to read. There was no significant difference in the duration time, the number of errors and the number of self-corrections between two types of fonts among the 56 participants. On the other hand, regarding subjective readability, the developmental dyslexia group reported that the Rounded-Gothic font was easier to read. There was a difference between objective and subjective readability. In this study, there was no difference in reading performance of Rounded-Gothic and Mincho style fonts in Japanese children with developmental dyslexia.

Highlights

Developmental dyslexia was defined by the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) (Lyon et al, 2003) as follows: “Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin
4.1 Effects of Japanese Font Type on Duration of Reading, Number of Errors and Number of Self-Corrections In this study, there were no significant differences in the duration of reading, the number of errors and the number of self-corrections between the two font types in the typical development group, developmental dyslexia group, or the developmental dyslexia with visual perception deficits group
Our study showed that in children with developmental dyslexia, a difference in font type was not linked to an objective improvement in reading speed or a reduction in the number of errors

Summary

Introduction

Developmental dyslexia was defined by the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) (Lyon et al, 2003) as follows: “Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. Due to their visual processing deficits, there has been increased attention on the use of specific font types to improve the reading performance of children with developmental dyslexia. In English-speaking countries, font types appropriate for children and adults with developmental dyslexia, such as Open Dyslexic (Gonzalez, 2014) and Dyslexie (Boer, 2016) have been designed. The purpose of this study was to clarify the effects of different types of Japanese font (Rounded Gothic and Mincho) on reading accuracy and fluency in Japanese-speaking children with developmental dyslexia

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